Major pepper growers

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soumyopriyosaha: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 126; Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 1:53 am; Location: Bangalore, India; Thanked: 1 times

by soumyopriyosaha » Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:39 am

Partly because of bad weather, but also partly because some major pepper growers have switched to high-priced cocoa, world production of pepper has been running well below worldwide sales for three years. Pepper is consequently in relatively short supply. The price of pepper has soared in response: it now equals that of cocoa.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
(A) Pepper is a profitable crop only if it is grown on a large scale.
(B) World consumption of pepper has been unusually high for three years.
(C) World production of pepper will return to previous levels once normal weather returns.
(D) Surplus stocks of pepper have been reduced in the past three years.
(E) The profits that the growers of pepper have made in the past three years have been unprecedented.

OA: D

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:39 am

thephoenix: Legendary Member; Posts: 1560; Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:38 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 137 times

by thephoenix » Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:42 am

production low-----causes shortage------causes inc in price
B and D are close
now there can be two reasons either consumption is high or the avialbilty is low

as long as there are extra stock is available the shortage rose bcoz of high consumtion can be met

hence B can be eliminted

D it is bcoz if surplus stock is finished then the shortage can not be overcome and hence price will inc

akahuja143: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 182; Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 7:09 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 1 times

by akahuja143 » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:35 am

I agree it should be D because reduction in surplus stock would result in shortage and therby increasing the price

mmon: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 105; Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:07 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 3 times

by mmon » Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:05 am

IMO D

A) the passage doesn't tell us anything about the profitability of pepper
(B) Out of scope
(C) weather is only one of the reasons why the pepper production has gone down.
(D) Correct. The passage states that "Pepper is consequently in relatively short supply."
(E) out of scope. we don't know about profitability

vijay_venky: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 173; Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2009 11:18 pm; Location: Hyderabad; Thanked: 12 times

by vijay_venky » Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:23 pm

P1. World Production of pepper < World sales of pepper because
1. of bad weather
2. major pepper growers switched to cocoa
P2. Consequently pepper --> short supply
P3. So the Price of pepper soared --> equals cocoa (now).

Inference question is a must be true question. Now we have to find an answer that must be true.

A- Nothing in the argument confirms this.
B- Argument says that the supply has been very low but never said that the consumption is high.
C- Two reasons have been stated so it could not be necessarily true.
D- Argument says Production <Sales, so surplus should have been reduced, must be true.
E- Tempting, but we do not know whether it was unprecedented, as the awareness of the short supply could have made the profits inevitable.

D a complete winner.

ajith: Legendary Member; Posts: 1275; Joined: Thu Sep 21, 2006 11:13 pmFollowed by: 2 members; Location: Arabian Sea; Thanked: 125 times

by ajith » Fri Jan 29, 2010 3:10 am

soumyopriyosaha wrote:Partly because of bad weather, but also partly because some major pepper growers have switched to high-priced cocoa, world production of pepper has been running well below worldwide sales for three years. Pepper is consequently in relatively short supply. The price of pepper has soared in response: it now equals that of cocoa.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
(A) Pepper is a profitable crop only if it is grown on a large scale.
(B) World consumption of pepper has been unusually high for three years.
(C) World production of pepper will return to previous levels once normal weather returns.
(D) Surplus stocks of pepper have been reduced in the past three years.
(E) The profits that the growers of pepper have made in the past three years have been unprecedented.

OA: D

A) Cannot be inferred from the passage
B) No. passage says it is a supply problem than a demand problem
C) Bad weather is one of the reasons why production is low - cannot be inferred
D) Passage says production has been consistently lower than consumption in past 3 years & so, surpluses would have diminished - can be inferred
E) There is no data given apart from prices soared - but there was bad weather also .. cannot be inferred

Always borrow money from a pessimist, he doesn't expect to be paid back.

joseph32: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 303; Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:23 am

by joseph32 » Sun May 15, 2016 10:43 pm

I like the explanation on D

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